London is most in demand city for student accommodation, study finds

London is the most in demand city for student accommodation out of 426 popular study destinations worldwide, closely followed by Sydney, Melbourne and Manchester, new research shows.

Many of the top 10 are in the UK, according to the study from student accommodation marketplace Student.com. In fifth place is Glasgow, followed by Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Los Angeles and Birmingham.

The rankings report points out that according to the latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, some 19% of students studying in higher education in the UK are from abroad while this jumps to 53% at full-time postgraduate level.

The study also looked at when students book their accommodation, when they move in, and how far they’ve travelled. Students who booked accommodation in 2017 travelled a combined total of over 95 million kilometres to get to their final destinations.

‘Our data indicates that there is still significant interest in the UK as a destination for international students, particularly from Asia and Europe. However, this is not an excuse to become complacent,’ said Luke Nolan, chief executive officer of Student.com.

‘With global competition for international students increasing year after year, the UK should do everything it can to support the internationalisation objectives of its universities and maintain its attractiveness as a study destination,’ he pointed out.

‘Students are still willing to travel far and wide for their studies. It’s important that we all play a part in keeping students globally mobile and making international students feel welcome, whether they’re from a neighbouring country or the other side of the world,’ he added.

Broken down by country, the top places for student accommodation in Australia are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, while in the US they are Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago and in Canada Montreal is top, followed by Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and London in Ontario.

In France the top destination is Paris, followed by Montpellier, Lyon, Marseille and then Nantes, while in Germany it is Berlin, Frankfurt, Bonn, Munich and Darmstadt. In Spain it is Barcelona, then Madrid, Valencia, Murcia and Girona and in Italy Milan is top, followed by Rome, Bologna, Florence and Turin.

Almost half of student globally book their accommodation over the summer months with Fridays the most popular day of the week for doing so. The research also shows that students from Cyprus are most likely to make a last minute dash to find a place to stay.

Some 59% of student move in on a Saturday with the second Saturday in September the most popular day of the year.

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